After more than three hours of rain interruptions, Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati, with the contest eventually scheduled for an 11-over game due to the weather.
Toss delay, reduced overs and team news
- Persistent rain forced a lengthy delay of over three hours before officials were able to conduct the toss.
- Once the toss was held at 9:55pm local time, play began at 10:10pm.
- The match was cut down to 11 overs per side, and the powerplay was set at 3.2 overs.
- With groundsmen keeping the pitch covered for a period and moisture remaining a factor, the ball was expected to behave differently early in the innings.
- Hardik returned to the XI after missing the previous match against Delhi Capitals due to illness.
- Trent Boult also came back into the playing group, while Corbin Bosch and Mitchell Santner were left out, as was legspinner Mayank Markande.
- AM Ghazanfar was named in Mumbai’s starting lineup, with the franchise starting with three overseas players, and Sherfane Rutherford expected to be available as the Impact Player.
- Rajasthan captain Riyan Parag wanted to bowl as well, but did not anticipate the conditions would influence the game to such a significant extent.
- Rajasthan’s XI was unchanged, with a possible switch to Ravi Bishnoi as the Impact Player if required, while fast bowler Brijesh Sharma remained an alternative if the surface did not suit spin.
Rajasthan entered the clash aiming to secure a hat-trick of victories and climb to the top of the points table. They had comfortably handled Chennai Super Kings in their opening match and then edged Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad in a last-over finish.
Mumbai, on the other hand, had started the season with a six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders but were later beaten by Delhi Capitals, losing by six wickets.
Playing XIs
Rajasthan Royals: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (capt), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma.
Rajasthan Royals Bench: Ravi Bishnoi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Brijesh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Shubham Dubey.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (capt), Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, AM Ghazanfar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.
Mumbai Indians Bench: Ashwani Kumar, Sherfane Rutherford, Corbin Bosch, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa.
